Education

AQA resource set for the unit 1 education module.

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Durkheim

  • Durkeim argued that the role of education is to transmit culture from one generation to the next and achieve shared norms and values. 
  • This is done by socialisation into shared norms and values creating a sense of belonging which creates a collective conscious.
  • The compulsary education system has RE, history and english language. As well as a shared uniform and assemblies. 
  • Positive and negative sanctions encourage meritocracy.
  • Parents lack the specialist skills which school teaches and these skills are transferrable and help individuals make a contribution to the economy.
  • This is shown by the emergence of vocational education in the 80s.
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Parsons

  • Acts as a "bridge" to wider society and helps the transition to adulthood.
  • Helps to adapt to the demands of society.
  • In the familiy, you are judged on particularistic values or ascribed status.
  • In society, your based on universalistic values or your achieved status.
  • School help young people intenralise meritocracy.
  • The core value is meritocracy - people are judged on their own values and merits.
  • eg. Exams/sports days.
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Davis and Moore

  • Education is a metaphorical sieve because it allocates roles.
  • People with the high qualifications do the more sociall improtant jobs.
  • People with lower qualifications do the least socially important jobs.
  • More important jobs more rewarded.
  • Education is meritocratic.
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Criticisms of Functionalism

  • Marxists would argue that education benefits the ruling class.
  • Education promotes competition more than individualism due to benefitting the ruling class.
  • Educational hierachy seperates different schools and universitites in leagues.
  • Class, Gender and Ethnicity play a role.
  • Social contacts can impact the success the have.
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Bowles and Giants

  • Education is controlled by capitalists.
  • Correspondence prinicple.
  • The hidden curriculum sociales a docile, easily manipulated workforce. 
  • This is shown by: conformist pupils getting higher grades, schools teaching acceptance of hierachy and pupils are motivated by external rewards. 
  • Meritocracy is a myth and class background determines how well you have done. 
  • People believe in the education system which legitimises it.
  • "Myth making machine"
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Criticisms of Marxism

  • Education responds to work - teaches more teamwork than obedience.
  • The hidden curriculum is not always accepted.
  • LEAs have independence to a degree.
  • Functionalists would argue education benefits society as a whole.
  • Bowles and Gintis research is out of date.
  • Ignores influence of formal curriculum.
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Louis Althusser

  • Ideological state apparatus.
  • Repressive state apparatus.
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Willis- Learning to Labour.

  • !970s, Neo-Marxist.
  • Ethnographic study in an East Midlands comprehensive.
  • Interviews and Participant Observation.
  • The 'Lands' saw themselves as superior to other staff.
  • Not interested in academic qualifications.
  • Did little work.
  • Formed a counter culture based on racism and sexism.
  • Traditional working class masuclinity.
  • Willis follwed the 'Lads' into their first job which was racist and had little or no respect. 
  • The 'lads' thought they had outsmarted the system, but ended up doing low paid jobs. 
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Neo- Marxism Evaluation

  • Based on a small sample.
  • One area
  • Ignores conformist culture.
  • Gender blind
  • Could have said something in presonse to social desirability.
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The new right

  • Interrferr as little as possible.
  • " One size fits all."
  • Marketisation of education.
  • Free market.
  • Competition.
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What is vocational education and how does it prepa

  • Vocational education is a type of education which provides career based learning which can be done through BTEC qualifications.

Ways in which vocational education can prepare for the world of work?

  • Work experience programs.
  • Punctuality
  • Skills needed.
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Criticisms of vocational education

  • Boring.
  • Cheap labour (Finn)
  • "Warehousing"
  • Seen as inferior to A levels.
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Background to Education

  • 1870- compulsary education introduced until the age of 11. The three Rs.
  • WW2- the government realised most of the working class army had poors english, academic skills and were unhealthy.
  • 1944 Education Act increase the leaving age.
  • 1960- Comprehensive shools introduced to increase standards.
  • 1970s- new vocationalism to prepare children for the world of work. 
  • 2010- school leaving age has risen to 18.
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Advantages and disadvantages of marketisation

Advantages

  • Standards rose.
  • Teaches the importance of hard work.
  • Schools that fail created more funds for succeeding schools.

Disadvantages

  • Soical class inequalities.
  • Popular more successful schools get more money, whilst the lower schools die.
  • Ball- myth of parentocracy- only middle class parents have a choice.
  • Barlett- Cream skimming.
  • Gillbourn and Youdell- A*-C economy.
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New labour

  • Supported the modernisation of schools and the education system. 
  • Introduced specialist schools.
  • Diversity.
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New Right Policies.

  • Chubb and Moe- voucher system. Encourages competition.
  • League tables.
  • Business run schools.
  • Open enrolement.
  • Formula funding- £4,000 per student.
  • Tuition fees.
  • More parentocracy.
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New labour policies

  • EAZ- providing deprived areas with additional resources.
  • Aim Higher- raise aspirations with those who are under represented.
  • EMA- encouraging pupils to stay onto higher education.
  • Sure start.

Criticisms of New Labour Policies

  • Continued marketisation through specialist schools.
  • Supported ability grouping which leads to labelling and supported faith schools by maintaining a market.
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Coalition policies.

Academies- schools encourage to leave LEA control and be funded by central government.

Free Schools- Parents or communities can set up their own schools by taking controll away from the state.

Criticisms 

Cut on education spending

sure start closed down

More exams

Strengths

Free school meals for under 7s.

Pupil premium- more money for disadvantaged kids.

Compulsary education until 18.

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Stephen Ball- Educational choice

  • Studied the effects of educational reforms on the education system.
  • Middle class were skilled choosers because they had the time and social contacts to make informed choices about the best schools. They have the money to move to a better catchment area or pay for private education.
  • Working class parents are disconnected choosers. They have no means of transport or money and tend to go to local schools in working class areas.

Effects on education

  • Tried to attract the most academically able.
  • Resources devoted to increasing the schools image.
  • Cooperation between schools and community became more common.
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What is the Hidden Curriculum/ how does it sociali

Hidden curriculum exists alongside the formal curriculum and involves hidden messages or lessons which are in school.

How does it socialised?

  • Hidden curriculum is based on a hierachy- people should expect not to have alot of controll.
  • Men are more likely to be dominant or senior positions in schools.
  • Rewarded and punished.
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Girls and the Hidden Curriculum

  • Feminists argue that the hidden curriculum passes on patriarchal values to ensure male dominance.

Stanworth

  • `Males are more important than females which is shown the a man's position in the educational hierachy.
  • Boys careers are more important than girls which is showed by the proportion of time which is spent with males.

Criticisms of the hidden curriculum

  • Not everyone accepts the norms and values of society. REF: Willis.
  • Hidden curriculum is not the same everywhere.
  • Overly positive. REF: Giroux
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Pupil Subculture

  • A subculture is a smaller part of the main culture.
  • Subcultures share the norms and values of the parent culture, but may have distinct attitudes and behaviours.
  • Streaming  means seperating into ability groups.
  • Becker argues that teachers have low expectations which leads to a SFP.
  • MC benefit as they are the ideal pupil.
  • Colin Lacey: Differentiation means categorizing on how they see their ability. Polarisation.
  • Hargreaves found that boys join a ASSC because they are seen as educational failures.
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Ball- abolishing streaming

Beechside comprehensive

Abolishing streaming and banding had the following effects: the pupils polarising reduced and so did the influence of ASSC.

Since the 1988 education act it has increased.

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What are the pupil responses?

  • Woods: Ingration, ritualism- staying out of trouble, retreatism- day dreaming and rebellion.
  • Furlong we are not restricted to one type of response.

Mac an Ghaill

  • Academic Achievers- hard working.
  • Macho lads- oppose values of school.
  • Real Englishman- Value education for their own sake.
  • New Enterprisers- vocational education.
  • Gay students- aware of homophobia in schools

Tony Sewell

  • Conformists- accepted the schools values and succeed through education.
  • Innovators- Keep out of trouble
  • Retreatists- keep themselves to themselves.
  • Rebel
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Criticisms of Labelling theory

Blames self.

Determinism

ignores wider structures (Marxism)

Fuller- black girls in education.

Focuses on male subcultures- Davies

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DEA- class

Barry Sugarman

  • Present time orientation. Inability to deferr gratification.

Douglas

  • Longitudinal study. 5000 chilrdren. Working class parents showed less interest than middle class parents.
  • Visited school less often and less keen for children to stay on at school. Less stimulation during primary socialisation.

Bernstein

  • Restricted and elaborate codes. Elaborated codes necessary for exam success. Socialised into articulate households.

Bordieu

  • Symbollic, cultural, economic and social.

Reay et al

  • Cultural difference affected the choice of uiversity. Habitus.

Smith and Noble

  • Middle clas and upper class have more money to pay for resources.

Callendar and Jackson

  • Survey Research effects of tuition fees and loans. Potential students scared due to financial issues.
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DEA- social class- internal

Mac an Ghaill

Studied working class pupils in a Midlands Comprehensive school. Three distinct groups emerged as a response to being put in one of three sets. The academic achievers- skilled working class successes, Macho Lads- academic failures who became hostileand the new enterprisers who have a positive attitude and saw vocational education as a route.

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DEA- Ethnicity

Modood

  • Some EMG have cultural capital despite being from working class backgrounds. For example, East Africans.

Strand

  • Compared the rpogress of white british, African Carrebian and Indian pupils. Indian children made the most progress, whilst African carrebian children made the least. The African carrebian children had low incomes and poor accomodation, however the Indians have high aspirations, low levels of truancy and materials.

Sewell

  • African- Carrebian boys do worst in the education system because they are raised in LPF, lack a male role model and they are vunerable to peers pressure, more likely to be in gangs which makes up for the racism in school.

Coard

  • There is systematic racism in the education system. For example, do not teach black culture only a specific white culture in lessons like history.

Wright

  • Ethnographic study of four primary schools using interviews and observation. She found evidence of discrimination. Asian girls got less attention and were met with hostility. African carrebian boys got negative attention from the teachers.
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DEA- Gender-Girls

Miriam David

  • Females are more likely to go post 1992 universities than prestigious institutions. In addition, female disadvantage still has an affect n subject choice.

Stanworth

  • A level classes in a sixth form college. She found that it was difficult to remember girls names, did not expect girls to go into high status jobs, boys recieved more attention and girls were not confident in their ability.

Norman

  • Sex stereotyping. Toys. Media.

Sue Sharpe

  • Interviewed a sample of girls in the 70-90s. Found aspirations changed.
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DEA-gender-boys

Francis

  • Boys get demotivated really easily.
  • Changing publicity about a boys ability means he has lost confidence.
  • Stereotypes.
  • Peer group pressure.

Jackson: Laddish Culture

  • Used questionnaires and interviews to study m/f. She found: culture of hegemonic, academic work was seen as feminine, boys messed about and changes in the labour market.
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Daniel Moynihan

Black LPFs suffer from cultural deprivation and economic deprivation because of a lack of money. In addition, they have a lack of male role models which makes them underachieve.

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Driver and Ballard

Asian Parents have positive attitudes to education and higher aspirations, therefore they are morely to do better.

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Flaherty

Palistanis and Bangaldeshi's three times morely than whites to be in the poorest 20% of the population and live in overcrowded households. 

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Gillborn and Youdell

Racialised expectation led to teachers labelling black children and disciplining them more than the others for the same thing.

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Mirza

Racist teachers discouraged black pupils from being ambitous.

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Troyna and Williams

The focus on white culture is a form of ethnocentrism and is a form of institutional racism.

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